Virgin Media?

HomeGirl9

Since Vodafone are raising their prices, we're looking to move providers. VM are looking good, since we could get fibre in, which we can't with other providers yet. But I've seen a lot of complaints about them and was wondering if it would be worth it.

At the moment, we're on the Home Essentials bundle with Vodafone. It's going up a fiver to €50 a month. Our broabdand isn't the best and I've been desperately hoping for fibre for a while, but looks like it'll be a bit of a wait.

What do you guys think? Would VM be better? Or maybe even Sky? We have our TV with them and have been pretty happy with that.

Thanks!

jca

I took the plunge and went with VM. It's a completely new system here in town and my speeds have been fantastic. There was a massive thunderstorm here last night which left me without BB for about 10 hours, not their fault in fairness as all other providers were affected too. I'd recommend it. There's no point in going with sky if your present BB is poor as sky will use the same phone line.

HomeGirl9

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's nice to read a positive story about them. Makes the decision much easier. Have you had VM long?

colm_mcm

Can you actually get virgin media where you live though? They don't use the phone line.

HomeGirl9

I can. I checked my address on their website.

jca

HomeGirl9 wrote: »

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's nice to read a positive story about them. Makes the decision much easier. Have you had VM long?

I'll have it 2 weeks on Tuesday I'm very happy with it so far. I'm sure loads will come along telling me I've made a huge mistake. The town has been completely rewired with new cabinets etc to a very high standard so I reckon it was worth the gamble. Is your system old or has it been rewired recently?

9726_9726

jca wrote: »

I'll have it 2 weeks on Tuesday I'm very happy with it so far. I'm sure loads will come along telling me I've made a huge mistake. The town has been completely rewired with new cabinets etc to a very high standard so I reckon it was worth the gamble. Is your system old or has it been rewired recently?

What town are you in?

jca

9726_9726 wrote: »

What town are you in?

Enniscorthy of all places. I never thought in my wildest dreams that VM would put a bob into their decaying joke of a cable system in this backwater. The installer was saying he was horsed doing installations. He couldn't believe the amount of people who signed up. He'll get some work when they complete the Shannon side of town as a lot of them are direct fed from the exchange getting dire speeds.

Studioworx

I tried to sign up with Virgin and even though it says my address is valid on their website, when I contacted them they say they can't do it! (I'm in New Ross). Are you defo able to get fibre in?

bk

HomeGirl9 wrote: »

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's nice to read a positive story about them. Makes the decision much easier.

Do remember that people normally only post on forums when they have problems. The vast majority of happy users rarely come and post.

By any measure, Virgin have hands down the best broadband service. They offer great technology, great network, great speeds and reasonable prices. Every speed test clearly show them to be the fastest ISP in Ireland.

That isn't to say that they are perfect and that people don't have issues from time to time. But generally they are great.

BTW I have their 240 service myself and I've never had a single issue and couldn't be happier with the service.

Studioworx wrote: »

I tried to sign up with Virgin and even though it says my address is valid on their website, when I contacted them they say they can't do it! (I'm in New Ross). Are you defo able to get fibre in?

Unfortunately addressing in Ireland sucks and the address checker on the Virgin site is just a rough guide. When you try and sign up, they do a more detailed check. Usually you can get it, but sometimes they will discover a problem with the address, or perhaps the area in general can get the service, but your address is too complicated and expensive to do.

webbzeb

Broadband OK (240) - disappears now and then but generally OK
Landline very poor quality
Signing up - no problem
Try contacting them after sign up - better walk to North Korea or Saigon or Mindaneau!
No worse than other providers 'after sales service' - but shur it's only for a Paddy

HomeGirl9

Thanks so much everyone!

We can definitely get them. I was briefly talking to a rep of theirs on their website with a question I had. The guy told me I could get all their services.
They were in our street only a few weeks ago connecting all the houses.

I was thinking that myself (about people who post on forums do so becasue they're having issues).

Yggr of Asgard

When VM works it works fantastic, if it does not work you are on your own with customer support provided out of what seams to be a north Korean labor camp (yes I know it's actually in the Philippines not North Korea).

In addition their communications policy about what works and what not is similar to the information policy of North Korea.

There are several technical problems with the way they have implemented their DS-Lite (IPV6) and they are not open about that. They also are engaging in traffic shaping and load balancing especially for high intensity traffic to an extend that your experience will suffer. When you complain they will tell you that you are the only one and that they will investigate. In reality it's just a go away response.

But as long as it works it's superior to what other providers offer, just once you have an issue or require something specific (like older VPN, DNS change on modem, Port Redirection) it's going to be difficult as you will have to engage in additional work like getting your own router, getting them to change you to IPV4 and other stuff.

If you don't need anything specific, can work with IPV6 and don't need your own router than VM is great until something breaks, than don't expect customer service. Once the fault is over everything is great again.

jca

Mine is using ds-lite. I used to be into all that tricking, opening ports, changing dns on the router, fixing ip addresses etc etc. I just couldn't be arsed anymore I just picked the network put in the password, put the sticker on the fridge for the family to connect their devices, job done. Apart from the loss after the electrical storm I'm very very happy with it. Download 22 gigs in 16 mins, I can live with that.

bk

Yggr of Asgard you make it sound much worse then it really is!

It takes all of 10 seconds to drop a PM to the support people on the boards Talk To forum and they will switch you to IPv4. And any advanced user who is opening ports, DNS changes, etc. is going to want their own more advanced router anyway, which Virgin now unofficially support with the modem mode on their latest router.

In reality they have listened to almost all the complaints people have had and fixed them.

- Terrible wifi performance on their old modem, they brought out a new router with very good wifi performance
- People wanted to be able to use their own wifi router, they added a semi official "modem mode" to their new modem
- Don't like IPv6, PM them and they switch you to IPv4

And in reality, other then the wifi issue, the above things probably only effect 1% of their most advanced customers. I'm certain that for the majority of normal customers it is pretty much setup and forget about it.

Yggr of Asgard

bk wrote: »

Yggr of Asgard you make it sound much worse then it really is!

I stand by what I said, if it works it works fine, there I agree with you.

Only if there is an issue than VM is one of the worst providers and their customer service is horrible. Some of the agents on boards might be great but their customer service contact center is horrible.

And as I said, as long as you are a standard user you will be fine, but if you need certain services you will have to engage in additional work or equipment.

I have no issues, the Hub works fine for me (as my clients, VPN, NAS are all IPV6/DS-Lite compatible). The only thing that does not work for me is VM own Phone Client which does not work with IPV6 in my case. But I won't downgrade just to get that one running as I like IPV6.

As to DNS, I would not call the ability to change to a more reliable / secure DNS an advanced function. They should bring it back into the HUB to make the service better. I'm lucky that my clients can all change the DNS for both IPV6/IPV4 in their settings, so I'm happy but some older device don't allow it.

As to the 10 seconds for dropping down to IPV4 you very well know that at any time they might revert you back (there are enough posts on boards where it happens) and in the long run they might stop offering it. So you need to take it into consideration if you rely on IPV4 for your setup.

Just look at their communication about censoring inbound SMS as an example of their communications policy, I'm right there to say they don't have the best open policy.

Again, I'm happy with VM for my broadband (with the exception of the odd outage or traffic shaping) and for a standard user it's good enough unless something happens.

bk

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Only if there is an issue than VM is one of the worst providers and their customer service is horrible. Some of the agents on boards might be great but their customer service contact center is horrible.

Pretty much the same with all ISP's. First line phone support is pretty basic as they are there to catch the people who forget to plug in their modem.

Social media support is almost always second line support and thus much better. Partly that is because it is all out in the public. Just don't bother with phone support and use the Talk To forums instead. Pretty much true of all companies (and not just ISP's) in my experience.

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

And as I said, as long as you are a standard user you will be fine, but if you need certain services you will have to engage in additional work or equipment.

So 99% of their customers are just fine.

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

I have no issues, the Hub works fine for me (as my clients, VPN, NAS are all IPV6/DS-Lite compatible). The only thing that does not work for me is VM own Phone Client which does not work with IPV6 in my case. But I won't downgrade just to get that one running as I like IPV6.

Again, if you are fiddling with DNS's, etc. then you are a power user and power users will almost always want to use their own, superior equipment. Virgin unofficially support separate routers, so all of the above becomes completely irrelevant.

Virgin's new hub is pretty decent, of course not as good as an expensive high end router, but as about as good as I'd expect for an ISP supplied router and again more then good enough for 99% of their users.

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

As to the 10 seconds for dropping down to IPV4 you very well know that at any time they might revert you back (there are enough posts on boards where it happens) and in the long run they might stop offering it. So you need to take it into consideration if you rely on IPV4 for your setup.

I've been on IPv4 for years now and not reverted once. They certainly don't just randomly revert it like you make out. The reports of it reverting have mostly been when people get a new modem or change product. Again a quick PM sorts it out. You are really blowing this out of proportion.

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Again, I'm happy with VM for my broadband (with the exception of the odd outage or traffic shaping) and for a standard user it's good enough unless something happens.

The problem is normal people read your comments and then think there are serious problems with Virgin and end up going for a much inferior ISP instead. In reality they are by far the best ISP in Ireland. The complaints you have only effect the 1% of power users and it isn't even really a big deal for any of them either. For the other 99% it is perfect.

boobycharlton

I have been switched from IPv4 to IPv6 three times this year so far, which involved painful phone calls to VM tech support in the Philippines each time, so they definitely do revert it back randomly. Many people use DNS services (or fiddle with DNS as you call it) to access geo restricted content like Netflix,Hulu and BBC Iplayer etc these days. Maybe 10 years ago these users would be classed as what you describe as "power users", but they certainly aren't anymore. I don't see why you should have to fork out for your own kit for such a basic function.

Also, there has been no end of annoying problems with VM's broadband in relation to sites like twitch, netflix and youtube this year. I still find it impossible to stream 4k Youtube vids on my wired 350Mb connection, whereas my brother on his 70mb eir efibre connection has no issues at all. This is down to Virgin/Liberty Global's cheapo peering policy, and there is no excuse for it considering the prices they charge subscribers and the money they spend on media campaigns claiming to be the fastest provider in the country.

You can't dismiss people experiencing these issues out of hand just because you seem to inexplicably be a Virgin Media fanboy. Though that seems to be the sole purpose of the talk to VM forum here!

If I had eir fibre available to me I'd switch in an instant, as VM/UPC's service has gone down hill significantly over the last 2 or 3 years.

Yggr of Asgard

bk wrote: »

The problem is normal people read your comments and then think there are serious problems with Virgin and end up going for a much inferior ISP instead. In reality they are by far the best ISP in Ireland. The complaints you have only effect the 1% of power users and it isn't even really a big deal for any of them either. For the other 99% it is perfect.

If you think that changing the DNS to a more reliable provider (my samknows box who uses VM DNS regularly reports a 25% DNS query failure) is a requirement for power users you and me are continuing to disagree about what makes a good ISP. "Fiddling" with DNS can be done for several reasons (from ad blocking to parental controls to other stuff) and it's a basic service that any router/hub should offer. VM does not on the HUB and hence it needs to be pointed out as disadvantage.

We don't know what requirement the OP or anybody else reading this thread has, so they should have all the information available. Both those for standard and advance users.

Fact is that VM is great for certain users while at the same time some features are not standard and before someone signs up to the service they should have all the info including what does not work. Most can be fixed with some work and investment (like IPV4 or own equipment) but people should know it before they sign up.

As to customer service, well we disagree there too. Even the boards reps have become less able to do anything. Just look at the youtube topics recently. Some of the older guys are great and really want to help but why should a standard user (the one you constantly bang on about) need to go via boards rather than telephone support (never mind that if your internet is down you can't do that).

A potential customer should always do their own research based on their requirements and than way the options. That can be VM outright or VM with own equipment or another ISP with lower speed. But the best is for potential customers to have all the options. Your sunshine one and my critical one.

Yggr of Asgard

boobycharlton wrote: »

This is down to Virgin/Liberty Global's cheapo peering policy, and there is no excuse for it considering the prices they charge subscribers and the money they spend on media campaigns claiming to be the fastest provider in the country.

I did not even wanted to bring that point up because it goes far beyond the average user as "bk" calls them but now that you have, I agree that that is another negative point.

ED E

Virgins transit to the continent isnt that bad, usually it fares better than Eirs and from what I've been told its miles ahead of Skys.

Every time C&W lost their link Eir and Vodafone were in bits for months while UPCs Telia routes were perfect.

Yggr of Asgard

ED E wrote: »

Virgins transit to the continent isnt that bad, usually it fares better than Eirs and from what I've been told its miles ahead of Skys.

Every time C&W lost their link Eir and Vodafone were in bits for months while UPCs Telia routes were perfect.

Depending on what your target it.

I have regular downloads from a server in the Netherland which sits on the same pipe as LGI, my connection maxes out when downloading, really nice.

Than I have downloads from a server from the same company that sits in Dublin and does not have the same commercial peering with LGI, my download speeds are ridiculous slow. So by targeting the Dutch server, I have a better connection.

It really depends on what you are trying to hit, the full speed is really only within LGI or to networks that they have a great commercial peering agreement with.

It's trial and error like with every ISP.

But usually once you find the right server/source to target you can get a really great performance, Virgin is no different than other ISP's there. Trial and error.

jca

I use an alternate dns I just change the dns locally rather than at the router. I use an app in the ipad to update my ip, it isn't difficult. I don't think it was possible to change the dns in the sky hub either, in saying that there was little point as it was unusable after 7pm. It's my 2 week anniversary with VM today and no sign of any problems with Netflix or youtube. There's always someone on Netflix or youtube in my house.

killbillvol2

I changed fro Eir(com) to VM (UPC) about 2 years ago. I haven't had a single issue with broadband in that time. I'd recommend it.

Their customer service is no worse than Eir's. On the small number of times I've contacted them (about TV) the person at the other end did what I asked them. I didn't have any language issues - some people seem to have major issues because the call centre is in the Philippines - maybe it's their own English that's the problem?

I use my own router because WiFi on the Horizon box is rubbish. That doesn't bother me. Eircom WiFi was rubbish too, only slower.

As a previous poster said, it's the unhappy customers who post on forums - most don't even know there is a forum. A lot of the threads on the VM forum are kept in an endless loop by the same people posting over and over again. One poster has nearly 2,500 posts in the forum!

Yggr of Asgard

killbillvol2 wrote: »

maybe it's their own English that's the problem?

Nice dig. It does not matter where customer service is delivered from, what matters is training for the agents and processes that have the customer in mind. And VM (like so many others) fail on that part. Most issues for me only got resolved (or better a workaround offered) once I talked to 2nd Level or management.

killbillvol2 wrote: »

A lot of the threads on the VM forum are kept in an endless loop by the same people posting over and over again. One poster has nearly 2,500 posts in the forum!

Who also helped getting the press up at the beginning when VM ignored their users with the Netflix issue they causes. Only due to the press attention they finally entered into a commercial/technical agreement with Netflix that now made them the best provider for Netflix in Ireland.

That same poster also contributed to the recent COMREG investigation into VM in which they were fined a significant amount for not complying with their legal requirements in providing customers with order summaries and not informing them about the legal rights.

Yes, that poster can be aggressive and excessive but it also did a lot of good.

And once the current investigation into billing practices by COMREG is done we will see the outcome of that one.

VM is great if you are a standard user and as long as you are happy with using their DNS and LGI's traffic restrictions all is fine, which is as "bk" says 99%.

But those 1% who have specific requirements need to know what they are singing up for.

VM is one of the better providers out there but it might not suit everyone which is why it's important to give potential customers the full story.

jca

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Nice dig. It does not matter where customer service is delivered from, what matters is training for the agents and processes that have the customer in mind. And VM (like so many others) fail on that part. Most issues for me only got resolved (or better a workaround offered) once I talked to 2nd Level or management.



Who also helped getting the press up at the beginning when VM ignored their users with the Netflix issue they causes. Only due to the press attention they finally entered into a commercial/technical agreement with Netflix that now made them the best provider for Netflix in Ireland.

That same poster also contributed to the recent COMREG investigation into VM in which they were fined a significant amount for not complying with their legal requirements in providing customers with order summaries and not informing them about the legal rights.

Yes, that poster can be aggressive and excessive but it also did a lot of good.

And once the current investigation into billing practices by COMREG is done we will see the outcome of that one.

VM is great if you are a standard user and as long as you are happy with using their DNS and LGI's traffic restrictions all is fine, which is as "bk" says 99%.

But those 1% who have specific requirements need to know what they are singing up for.

VM is one of the better providers out there but it might not suit everyone which is why it's important to give potential customers the full story.

Very true, it's like everything in life, one person campaigns for change and everyone benefits. The dns can be changed locally, which is what I'm doing.

killbillvol2

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Nice dig.

That wasn't aimed at you. There have been numerous posters complaining about not being understood/not understanding the CS agent. I've been to the Philippines and found it pretty easy to understand people. All the agents I've dealt with had good English with annoying American accents. The script they're reading from is another issue but that's the same for all similar operations.